Jump to content

British Coin And Other Finds


Recommended Posts

What a nice day for metal detecting. Today's finds include 10 quarters, 13 dimes, 13 nickels, 22 pennies, 2 zippers, a locket, an earring, a car key, and a 2 pound british coin. Everything today was found with the T2 and shrew coil EXCEPT the locket and some quarters, a couple nickels, and 2 dimes which the ORX found. The 2 pound coin is the most unique thing today, and I'm wondering why it is here in the states on a playground. The coin edge has "Standing on the shoulders of giants" imprinted. Took a lot of cleaning to get it looking this nice. It was down 5" and extremely crusty.

 

2pounds_1.jpg

2pounds_2.jpg

2pounds_3.jpg

button.jpg

finds1019_1.jpg

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites


You will struggle to get a bi-metallic 2 Pound coin to look decent, mechanical methods are the most viable. The cupro-nickel centre is the same metal as your US 5 cent coin. The pale gold outer ring is 'nickel bronze', both have an enthusiasm for turning brown quite quickly.
Some pictures:
two pounds

The theme of the coin is Science, and the UK's contribution to it. It features gears (the Industrial Revolution), computer chips, and a representation of the Internet.
The "STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS" edge inscription is a reference to British scientist Isaac Newton using it. Though it turns out to have a history much older than that:
s.o.t.s.o.g



 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, PimentoUK said:

You will struggle to get a bi-metallic 2 Pound coin to look decent, mechanical methods are the most viable. The cupro-nickel centre is the same metal as your US 5 cent coin. The pale gold outer ring is 'nickel bronze', both have an enthusiasm for turning brown quite quickly.
Some pictures:
two pounds

 

Thank you for the link. It's very interesting to see the coins there and it will serve as a reference if I should be lucky enough to find another UK coin.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Over the years I've turned up a couple of pound coins, usually near soccer fields.  More common, I guess, are euro's also near soccer fields.  My guess on them would be exchange students or foreign soccer clubs playing here in the US.  Got a good haul there.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, DDancer said:

Over the years I've turned up a couple of pound coins, usually near soccer fields.  More common, I guess, are euro's also near soccer fields.  My guess on them would be exchange students or foreign soccer clubs playing here in the US.  Got a good haul there.

This particular one was found at an elementary school wood chip playground. Maybe a teacher took a trip across the pond and gave it to a student who lost it.. I dunno

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Or swiped it from mom and dads jewelry box 😉 pocketed it and took it to school to show off.  Lots of strange things can show up in school yards.  Never know the truth but its fun to speculate.  Its one of the things I enjoy in metal detecting~ the thought of "How did this get here?" and "Man that person must have been upset when they lost this..."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 10/19/2019 at 7:31 PM, PimentoUK said:

The "STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS" edge inscription is a reference to British scientist Isaac Newton using it. Though it turns out to have a history much older than that:
s.o.t.s.o.g

Originally I was impressed by Newton saying this, until I read more about him and found out he wasn't particularly modest afterall.  Well, nobody's perfect.  For the advancement of mankind, the choice between a vain Newton and a modest person of lesser accomplishment is an easy call.

I wish these government mints would give more thought when making their alloys, although I guess if you're not going to use a precious metal then we can just expect coins coming out of the ground to be ugly.  (Aluminum is probably an exception to that, though.)  At least it doesn't have an iron core (like recent Canadian issues) nor a combination of galvanically active metals (like our US Stinkin' Zincolns).

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Newton was also "Master of the Mint" at the Royal Mint, another reason for him featuring on the coin.
You're correct about aluminium, or alloys of it, being corrosion-resistant. I've dug a French coin from 1922, and it came up shiny and pale gold coloured. It had me puzzled for a while, the weight was clearly light, so I suspected aluminium. It turned out to be aluminium-bronze, which was a new alloy at the time, though it has been used for a great many coin issues worldwide since then.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

In 1973/74 the US mint considered changing the composition of the penny to aluminum alloy.  Here's a detailed history of that:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1974_aluminum_cent

A few were distributed to congresspersons, and although the mint demanded (requested?) the return of all those specimens, some were never returned and no litigation ever occurred.  (You can get away with a lot if you're a priveledged member of the US Federal Government.)  Apparently the mint still has a claim to those missing cents and recently (see above article) they confiscated a rogue specimen, although apparently it wasn't one of those distributed to Congress.

Something similar occurred in 1933 with a $20 gold piece:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1933_double_eagle

and eventually the statute of limitations ran out (probably not the correct legal term) as those few survivors are now freely traded and easily worth in the high seven figures ($).  When the aluminum cent ownership is finally decriminalized I expect those to bring huge auction prices (although probably not quite competitive with the 1933 Double Eagle).

Oh, and when in 1982 they finally got around to changing the US cent composition, we were rewarded with the Stinkin' Zincoln.  What a commendable result.

Edit:  Actually only one 1933 $20 gold piece is allowed to be owned outside the US Government, and it has quite a checkered history as detailed in the above linked Wikipedia article.  10 more are in the US government's possession and could possibly be released in the future but I think that requires a change in law so don't hold your breath.  Pretty interesting wikipedia article as geof_junk notes.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...